KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures climbed 1.7 per cent on Monday, tracking gains in soybean oil and other edible oil contracts on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose to 2,787 ringgit ($657.93) a tonne by the evening.

Traded volumes at the end of Monday stood at 55,937 lots of 25 tonnes each. Traders said the upward movements on rival edible oil markets have buoyed palm prices. `Looks like the market is responding to bean oil gains last week due to a US Environmental Protection Agency decision,` a trader said.

Exports of palm oil products for Oct 1-20 rose 11.6pc to 951,339 tonnes from 852,206 tonnes shipped a month earlier, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday. The January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.9pc at the end of Monday, while the January palm olein contract rose 2pc.-Reuters